A Very Duggar Christmas: How The ‘Counting On’ Family Celebrates The Holiday

If you know anything about the Duggars, you know that they’re Christians, and that means they celebrate Christmas, the biggest Christian holiday of the year. Of course, you also know that they belong to a very strict version of evangelical Christianity that rejects a lot of things — for example, women wearing pants — that other Christians are OK with. And that extends to their Christmas traditions, as InTouch Weekly reports.

In a general sense, the Duggars’ Christmas celebrations reject just about everything that American culture has attached to the holiday but doesn’t descend from the religious aspects of it.

No Christmas Trees

Back in 2014, before he became the family pariah, Josh revealed that there was a time when the Duggar family had Christmas trees, but the kids kept knocking them over and the parents gave up. These days, according to the Daily Mail, parents Jim Bob and Michelle forgo the tree entirely and instead hang up a banner celebrating the birthday of the Baby Jesus.

By the way, although no one in the Duggar family specifically mentioned it, there are some Christians who are absolutely against Christmas trees. As Christian blog A Real Change notes, some believe that an Old Testament verse about idol worship describes Christmas trees, and thus, Christmas trees are to be avoided.

And although the Duggars don’t specifically mention being against Christmas trees because of the Old Testament, in a general sense they believe trees are a distraction from Jesus’ birthday, so they’re out.

You Can Forget About Santa Claus Though

If the Duggars are, at best, ambivalent about Christmas trees, they’re downright hostile to Saint Nick. As previously reported by the Inquisitr, Derrick Dillard raised a little hell on social media last Christmas, famously tweeting that Santa Claus isn’t real.

Apart from Derrick, it seems that the general attitude toward Santa is not one of outright hostility, but one of just unacceptance. In a Duggar Christmas, Jesus rules the day — and there’s no room for anyone else.

You’ve Probably Used Their Gift-Giving System In Your Family

Giving gifts when you’ve got multiple siblings, in-laws, grandchildren, and nephews and nieces, can be an ordeal, so the Duggar family does like several other big families have done: they’ve adopted a name exchange. Each family member draws a name of another family member on Thanksgiving, and they make a special gift basket for that person.

Those baskets will, by tradition, include a certain number of must-haves: Pringles, beef jerky, and pickles.

What’s more, Duggar gift baskets get distributed to the community — friends, extended family, the less fortunate. Those baskets are known to include fruits, snacks, toiletries, and of course, Bibles.

Getting Food Means Getting In Line

Another Christmas experience you’ve probably had in your family, especially if yours is a big one, is this: if you want a plate of food, you’d best queue up. And in the Duggar house, it’s traditional Christmas fare: turkey, casseroles, pies — that sort of thing.

Really, when you think about it, Duggar Christmas traditions may seem a little weird, but for the most part, they’re not that different from your own.